Tournament host Jeev Milkha Singh’s hopes of a fairytale victory in the inaugural India Legends Championship were dashed by a disastrous triple-bogey on the closing hole, relegating him to a tied third-place finish.
Despite his best result on the Legends Tour, Jeev expressed disappointment with his final round performance, which saw him card a four-over 76 at the Jaypee Greens Golf Course. The Indian legend tumbled out of contention in the USD 500,000 event, but his country still enjoyed a strong showing.
Jyoti Randhawa (tied ninth), Mukesh Kumar (tied 15th), and Amandeep Johl (tied 22nd) all finished in the top 25. Jeev’s round started promisingly, as he took advantage of Haeggman’s opening bogey to share the lead. However, the Swede quickly regained his composure, birdieing three holes to establish a five-shot advantage at the turn.
Jeev fought back with a birdie on the 15th, but Haeggman’s bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes brought the Indian back into contention. The gap was down to two shots as the final group approached the 18th tee, but Jeev’s gamble to pressure Haeggman backfired.
His tee shot found the water, and his third shot landed on the 10th tee box. A chip back to the 18th green and another to the putting surface resulted in a triple-bogey, dropping Jeev from tied second to tied third.
Haeggman, meanwhile, parred the last three holes to secure a two-stroke victory. England’s Marshall, who finished ahead of the final group, shot a superb 7-under 65 to finish second.
Mukesh Kumar had the best round of the day for an Indian, carding a 2-under 70 to finish tied 15th. Johl’s 1-over 73 left him tied 22nd, while Vishal Singh, Digvijay Singh, Vijay Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, and Harmeet Kahlon finished further down the leaderboard.
